Decatur, GA — Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger announced Wednesday that the statewide race for Public Service Commission that was originally scheduled to take place on Dec. 1 has been postponed to Jan. 5, according to AJC. It will now coincide with the Senate runoff races.

Republican incumbent Lauren “Bubba” McDonald fell about 4,000 votes shy of the 50% of votes needed to avoid a runoff against Democrat Daniel Blackman. McDonald had received 49.91% of the vote as of Nov. 10, according to the Athens Banner-Herald.

The planned recount by hand of presidential votes along with the two runoffs as originally scheduled made for an “untenable situation” for election workers, said Raffensberger. “With that, under my powers under the health emergency, I am moving the date of the December 1 election to coincide with the federal runoff on January 5. This will protect the integrity of both elections and make for better election administration,” he said. “It has the added benefit of saving taxpayers millions of dollars.”